What Should I Read Next?

Mindy Mejia enjoys propulsive, fast-paced books with strong characters—and she writes them, too! Mindy writes thrillers, or as she calls them “murdery books,” but she reads from a whole banquet of literature.Anne got to talk with her about setting reading intentions, sampling books—which, as you’ll hear, is a bit of a euphemism—and learning about surprisingly fascinating topics as we read. As always, she recommends a handful of books we think Mindy will love, including an upcoming thriller that Anne loved, a nonfiction book she wasn't expecting to be talking about today, and selections from a genre that doesn’t get mentioned all that often around here.To see a list with those titles and all of the books we mentioned visit the show page at https://whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/278.Find out what Mindy Mejia is reading and writing on Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, or her website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today Anne is talking with Jake Sloofman, an arborist living in Brooklyn. They discuss his big reading goal, the pressure to read “serious literature,” and how to alternate light and heavy reads for a balanced reading life. So Anne serves up a mix of weighty literature and frothy “palate cleanser” books to keep things balanced.View the full list of titles and a transcript of the episode on our website https://whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/277.You can follow Jake on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Podcast producer and PhD student Sara Aeder always finds time for reading, thanks to audiobooks and a passion for turning the pages. She has a special fondness for books that explore the “exquisite pain of a teenage crush” and let her live vicariously through fictional drama, but Sara’s taste in books goes way beyond young adult lit. Today on the podcast, Sara shares three books she loves that cover the main themes of her reading taste, and I recommend several titles that I think she'll love.We mention over 40 titles in today’s episode, from all-time favorites to books that fell flat. Listen in to find out which book Sara threw across the room and be sure to check out the full list of every single book we talk about on our website. You can follow Sara on Instagram or check out her work at Tablet Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you manage your reading life when you have many books you NEED to read, and many more you'd LIKE to read, just for you? In today's episode we're diving into that question with Brigid Misselhorn, a self-described "book club addict" who offers insight into this highly relatable question.Bonus: Brigid describes herself as a "naturally slow" reader; we know many of you love it when our guest's reading life mirrors your own in this specific way.From graphic novels to gothic mysteries, today’s titles are a lot of fun. This is one of those episodes where I have to try several times to find the right titles that Brigid hasn't read yet! Be sure to visit the podcast website at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/275 for today's complete book list–it's a long one.To see her latest buddy read follow Brigid on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Readers, the origin story for today’s episode might make you swoon. It all started with a conversation on Instagram, where Anne got a message from one incredibly intentional boyfriend hoping to make some bookish dreams come true. After learning more, we invited his girlfriend Ashley on the show, and I’ll let her tell the whole story today. Ashley Parrish is a book lover and self-proclaimed TV junkie who enjoys scrolling bookstagram but wants to find more backlist titles instead of picking up every book that garners a lot of buzz on social media—we know many of you can relate. Today, Anne is sharing three (or maybe a few more) titles to satisfy Ashley’s love of page-turning fiction and books that revolve around the performing arts.Visit the podcast website to see all the books discussed in this episode or to follow along with a transcript of the show.You can follow Ashley on Instagram, where she shares her recent reads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Readers, today’s show is a de-light. We have had mother-daughter duos on the show and even a father-daughter duo with Ashley and Brent from episode 155, but today Anne talks with Rebekah and Beverly, our first grandmother-granddaughter pair — and Beverly is our first nonogenarian!When Rebekah sent in a guest submission she included three books she and Beverly both love, but then she put her own fun twist on the rest. She told us one book that Beverly loved and Rebekah hated, and another Rebekah loved but Beverly hated. Anne's tricky task is to find three books they’ll both enjoy reading together. As you'll hear, it turns out the options were plentiful. In fact they get a few bonus recommendations.All of the books Beverly, Rebekah and Anne discuss are on our podcast website at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/272 as well as a full transcript of today's episode.Beverly is not on social media, but you can find Rebekah on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today Anne's guest is an Alabama teacher whose love of reading has touched every aspect of his life—from where he met his wife to the theme of his classroom today. Derek is a MATH teacher but he puts his reading right there on the wall for his students to see and he loves talking books with fellow teachers.You're going to love this conversation about his early library adventures, the books he’s passing down to his son, and the gorgeous engagement photos he and his wife took in the library where they met.  Derek knows his go-to AND the font that tells him this book is right for him–but he’s challenging himself to try and push some boundaries and not be quite so carefully curated. Anne's challenge is to recommend three books that are right for where he is in his reading life right now. Visit the show page for a list of all of the books discussed and to leave your own recommendations for Derek. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you track your reading life? Today's guest has a whole new system of book tracking and reviewing to share. Anne is talking with Nadia Odunayo, the reader and entrepreneur behind The Storygraph, a brand new website full of tracking tools and detailed rating systems to help readers go beyond a book’s jacket copy and filter through information to find what they’re really looking for.We love hearing behind the scenes stories and it was fascinating to hear Nadia explain how this creative endeavor came to be. We also mention a bunch of books that have never made it on the podcast before and Anne recommends a couple of genres that haven't gotten much attention on the podcast. We can't wait to hear which titles end up on your TBR lists.Visit the podcast website at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/271 for the full list of titles Nadia and Anne discuss.Find Nadia and The Storygraph on Instagram, Twitter or The Storygraph website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Readers, in today's podcast episode, I’m talking with graphic memoirist and comic creator Lucy Knisley. We chat about her overflowing bookshelves, the pleasures and pitfalls of the creative process, what makes the perfect pandemic stress read, and how to cope with your kids’ evolving reading tastes. Lucy is looking for distraction in her reading life right now and needs some low-stress books to read before bed; I have plenty of recommendations to suit her taste (and fill your to-be-read lists).  We’ve never talked about graphic memoirs and comics in-depth on the podcast before. I can’t wait for you to hear Lucy’s enthusiasm for comics, graphic novels, and what those terms even mean.The audio for this episode comes from a live event that we hosted in the Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club. We read Lucy’s graphic food memoir Relish as a bonus book club pick last month, and this What Should I Read Next-style event was an extra sprinkle of bookish joy for our book club members.Join us for a Patreon livestream!Readers, it’s time for our quarterly Patreon livestream! Next week, we'll be hosting a virtual chat in our Patreon community. We’ll hang out, answer your questions, and (of course) share a bunch of book recommendations. To learn more about our community or to join us for our livestream on Tuesday February 16th at 1 pm click here.If you can’t make it live, we’ll record the event so members can watch it at any time.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s guest is Tiffany Patterson, a Florida reader who created a new kind of literary get-together that is convincing her not-so-readerly friends to give books and reading a chance. She breaks down all the details of her brilliant idea so that you can steal it and start your own group.This episode was recorded in 2019 and aired as Episode 166: Just don’t call it book club. That means this was pre-Covid, so we talk about getting together as actually getting together. It also means that some of you have already heard this and told us that you’ve borrowed Tiffany's format for your own use, and it’s vastly improved your reading life and your relationships. If you're one of them or you find the idea of a neighborhood literary society intriguing, let us know in the comments of today's show notes post.You can follow Tiffany reading life on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices